Indians keep rolling

Boys Soccer: Dartmouth 5, Nauset 0

The colder it is outside, the hotter Noah Martins and the Dartmouth offense gets. The No. 4 Indians have exploded offensively over the first two games of the tournament, this time dominating No. 5 Nauset on their way to a 5-0 home victory in the quarterfinals of the MIAA South Sectional Div. 2 tournament.

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By ANDREW TORNETTA

southcoasttoday.com

By ANDREW TORNETTA

Posted Nov. 7, 2012 at 12:01 AM

By ANDREW TORNETTA
Posted Nov. 7, 2012 at 12:01 AM

» Social News

DARTMOUTH — The colder it is outside, the hotter Noah Martins and the Dartmouth offense gets.

The No. 4 Indians have exploded offensively over the first two games of the tournament, this time dominating No. 5 Nauset on their way to a 5-0 home victory in the quarterfinals of the MIAA South Sectional Div. 2 tournament.

Dartmouth will advance to the semifinals against top-seeded Needham later this week on a neutral site.

After averaging just over two goals per game during the regular season, the Dartmouth (15-2-2) offense has scored 10 goals over its first two tournament games, including six from Noah Martins, who recorded his second straight hat trick.

A big key has been the incredible starts the Indians have gotten off to.

After scoring three goals in the first 14 minutes against Taunton, Dartmouth scored three times in the first 17 minutes against the Warriors (14-3-3), before adding its fourth goal of the half in the 31st minute.

"This has been amazing and I am just really enjoying watching it, to be honest. Normally, you get into the tournament and it's a low-scoring, hard-fought 1-0 or 2-1 game but we have just been playing nearly perfect soccer," Dartmouth head coach Steve Frank said. "We heard good things about how tough and big their back four was and we just ran circles around them. To put up 10 goals against two very quality tournament teams is incredible."

Nauset's best scoring chance came in the 33rd minute of the first half after Dartmouth was called for a handball. However, Lucas Almeida made a diving save to his left on the penalty kick to preserve the shutout and Nauset couldn't create much of a threat on offense again.

WHAT IT MEANS: The Indians will roll into the semifinals as arguably the hottest team in the tournament after out-scoring their first two opponents 10-1. They will move to a neutral site against No. 1 Needham (17-1-3).

FRANK: "We came out like a ferocious pack of dogs, and once again, the front six was phenomenal. I am running out of superlatives to say about these guys. We are really on top of our game right now and are probably the hottest team around. We are playing our best ball of the season especially offensively and it's just great to watch."

NAUSET COACH JOHN MCCULLY: "We were outclassed today unfortunately. We just couldn't handle their speed and quickness early on in the match. They scored very quickly and we just never responded from that. I am very proud of these guys for a great year and nobody will take away them winning the Atlantic Coast League, but this is not how we wanted to end our season today."

SOUTHCOASTVARSITY.COM STAR OF THE GAME: Entering the tournament, Noah Martins had never recorded a hat trick and was coming off a regular season in which he scored 18 goals. Fast-forward two games into the tournament and Martins already has six after recording his second hat trick in as many games. Martins scored the Indians first three goals of the game, all coming in the first 17 minutes. "I can't even put this into words. I'm just trying to do whatever I can to help my team but scoring like this is definitely a great feeling," Martins said. "We just seem to be clicking right now. The last two games we have been playing hard and are just working really well together as a team and playing as one."

OFFENSIVE ONSLAUGHT: The Indians offense has been so staggering Frank needed to think back a decade ago to find a fair comparison to the type of numbers the team has put up over the first two tournament games. Not surprisingly, it was the 2002 team that made a trip to the state finals. "Watching the way we have been playing over the first two games the only comparison I can make is in 2002 when we won our first two games 5-1 and 7-3," Frank said. "Explosion-wise, that is the only thing I can compare it with because we have just been putting on a clinic so far and it has been very entertaining to watch."

NOTES: Jarred Correia scored a goal for the second straight game and also chipped in with an assist. Ben Silvia also scored while Matt Vidal recorded two assists and Jarred Brandso chipped in with another. ... Dartmouth out-shot the Warriors 13-2 in the game. €» McCully credited senior captain Hunter Mahar for "playing a great game and leaving everything he had on the field."